Pandora Dreams ON HIATUS
by BloodRoseAngelReba
Summary: Terminally ill 18-year-old Danny is spending the last months of his life in Pandora. He has never had a true friend - however, it seems that he's about to find what he never expected here, and when it's far too late. Will contain BL.
1. Chapter 1

_[AN] This is something I started for the hell of it after seeing Avatar for the first time and wanting to make some OCs to put in Pandora. I've done quite a few chapters now, but I'll upload it bit by bit so as not to overwhelm you, haha. It's still in progress now. Hope you enjoy it! :3_

**Chapter 1**

Casting a quick glance behind him at the dark blue _eyaye_ leaf mounted in the branches of a small tree, the bright red streak through its stem pointing in his direction and proclaiming the path he was on as the right direction back to the lake, Ash'teth cursed under his breath. One of the clan's children had no doubt moved it, most likely because they knew he would be coming this way and thought it amusing to confuse the poor simple village joke. After a moment, he let a wry smile curl his lips; he was probably, on second thoughts, being too paranoid. Na'vi children had the right to mess around and play - they didn't mean to personally cause him trouble. Just because he had been a quiet, hesitant child, more content to sit under the hanging leaves of the nearest tree and put all his concentration into making toys and ornaments, it didn't mean every other young member of the Omaticaya was. He just wished they didn't have to persist with changing the brightly-coloured leaves the clan used as signposts round every other day. Ash'teth, despite being twenty years old, would readily admit he could be a bit of a simpleton at times; incidents like this only served to accentuate that fact.

"Right," he muttered to himself in Na'vi, thumping the tip of his bow down in the soil and putting the other hand on his hip as he glanced up towards the canopy of trees above. "Got to work out the right direction from this mess. And sort out the signs for everyone else while I'm at it. OK, first question - which direction did I come from?"

For a long moment, Ash'teth stood where he was, looking around him blankly. His forehead creased into a frown, then into a deeper one. He tapped his foot, willing his brain to start working. He shifted position and put his other hand on his hip, taking the bow with the other, trying to deny the inevitable. Eventually, he was forced to admit what he had known all along: he had already forgotten which path he'd taken.

"You _skxawng_," he berated himself, sinking down into a crouch on the forest floor and kneading his forehead with his knuckles. "Idiot, idiot, idiot."

He stayed that way for a long while, willing his brain to suddenly leap back into life and proclaim that he simply had to go in _that_ direction to get to where he wanted to go. But there was nothing. Letting out a groan, Ash'teth moved to get back to his feet - then froze, head snapping round, at a rustle in the trees barely twenty metres away. Feline ears twitching to catch every sound, he listened hard, his one working eye sharp with concentration. There it was again. Barely perceptibly, his shoulders slumped with relief; it couldn't be anything larger than a yerik. For one panic-stricken moment, he had been absolutely convinced he had just been caught alone in the forest by a thanator.

Suddenly, a triumphant smile crossed his face, baring sharp canine teeth. _Perfect! I can get dinner, and then I'll have an excuse for getting back late to the clan._ The only problem was actually catching said dinner. Hunting had never been his strong point - yes, he owned one of the most elaborate and beautiful bows in the clan, carved from the wood of Hometree as the laws dictated and carved lovingly to the best of his abilities, but to be perfectly honest he couldn't do very much with it. Yes, he could use a banshee bow brilliantly while atop his ikran, Txep'renu's, back, but that was different. In the forest, there were branches and vines and roots to trip up and distract even the wariest hunter, and his blind right eye made his coordination skills weak at the best of times. He was much better in the sky, where there were no distractions, no inhibitions, only freedom.

Shaking his head firmly as if to force his thoughts back on track, Ash'teth silently drew an arrow from the quiver slung over his back and nocked it to the bow, holding the string loose for the moment as he crept forward over moss-strewn rocks and tree roots. Lithe frame effortlessly avoiding the closely-packed tree trunks, he worked his way in the direction he had heard the sound, gaze flicking up and around him at intervals to be sure the hunter wasn't, in turn, becoming the hunted. The Na'vi had to be careful, seeing as the forest they inhabited was shared by thousands of other creatures both predatory and benevolent, but as long as they kept to Eywa's will they would be protected. There had to be a cycle in life; the People could feed themselves on the creatures that they shared their home with, but they should never kill more than they needed, and they would always be sure to send a prayer to Eywa whenever they made a kill for their victim's soul to be sent to her. However, there were incidents when the wildlife of Pandora made it perfectly clear all by itself that it wasn't about to be taken advantage of; Ash'teth remembered vividly the time, several months ago, when he had accidentally pulled one too many leaves from a _paywll_, or 'water plant', and the thing had hurled dozens of spiky needles at him in self-defense. He knew, with a grimace, he would never forget the defensive mechanisms of Pandora's often hazardous ecosystem again - if not by memory, by the faint pinprick scars he still bore on his hands and arms.

Dragging his mind back into the present for the second time in several minutes, Ash'teth glanced up to see, sure enough, the distinctive shape of a _yerik_ a dozen feet away in a small clearing, pawing the ground with one cloven hoof, fan-like structure on its head aloft; it had probably scented him. He would have to work fast. Out of habit, Ash'teth closed his right eye - despite being half-blinded three years ago he still hadn't managed to stop himself doing it whenever he aimed a bow - and lifted the weapon, pulling the string taught-

Then almost let out a yelp of alarm as the yerik suddenly emitted a piercing squeal and bounded straight towards him, leaping right over his head so fast he barely had time to realise what was happening. Righting himself and making a grab for his bow - which he had dropped in his alarm - Ash'teth looked behind him through a curtain of wayward black hair to see that the creature had already vanished into the trees. The normally docile animal moving at such haste meant only one thing: it had sensed something that meant a lot more danger to it than he did, and it was close by.

Reflexively clutching his bow, Ash'teth pushed his unruly fringe out of his face and cast his gaze around him, fighting back the instinctive urge to either run or simply, as was his usual response, panic. Charging off in a random direction and making more noise than a herd of titanothere was only going to make things a thousand times worse. Spotting movement in the trees about a hundred metres away, too far to discern anything in detail, Ash'teth silently replaced his arrow back in its quiver and slid his bow over his back so the string rested on his chest to keep it there. Shifting to the side until he was behind the trunk of a large tree, he gripped the bark with nimble three-fingered hands and began to climb, a little clumsier than most Na'vi his age but far more agile than any human. Several times he froze partway up, hearing the approach of whatever creature it was down below, but then carried on moving, determined to get into the relatively safe canopy of the trees. The only creatures that could reach him here were mostly harmless; even the massive thanator wouldn't clamber up this high unless it was desperately hungry for one particular Na'vi by the name of Ash'teth. _Don't forget the toruk,_ he added inwardly, then silently cursed himself again. _Why are you such an idiot? Stop scaring yourself. It's probably nothing._

Reaching a large, relatively sturdy-looking branch, he climbed up onto it and flattened himself onto its surface, resting his stomach and chest on the rough bark and wrapping his prehensile tail around it to keep himself balanced. His bow slid forward and bumped him on the back of the head, and with a frown of irritation he pushed it back again, keeping his gaze trained on the forest floor, now thirty metres below him.

A minute or so later, they came into sight, and he blinked in surprise and then alarm. He wasn't seeing a group of prowling viperwolves or a lone direhorse. He had heard of these creatures landing on Pandora and of their exploration of its forests and mountains, but never seen one himself. Several feet shorter than the Na'vi, wearing hard grey armour and carrying what appeared to be large, clunky weapons, they were humans.

Despite himself, Ash'teth couldn't resist leaning further over the branch to get a better look, peering at the humans with unrestrained curiosity. One of them roughly cut down a large shrub growing at the side of the path they walked on to get it out of his way, and Ash'teth felt his brow furrow in irritation; there was no need to kill it. He simply had to step over it. They were speaking in their own language, which he didn't understand a word of; every now and then one or two of them would lift the strange-looking weapon they held and sweep it slowly around them in response to a noise in the forest. They seemed wary, eyes flicking everywhere as if expecting to be leapt on at any moment. Despite his awe and fear of the creatures, Ash'teth couldn't help but feel a little smug; they were scared of his kind and the world they inhabited. Despite all their - what had the other Na'vi said they called it? Oh yes, _technology_ - and powerful weapons, they were frightened of what this world could do to them if it chose to turn on them.

_You should be scared,_ Ash'teth told them silently, keeping his gaze trained firmly on them and not moving an inch as they disappeared further into the forest. _When I tell the rest of the clan you've been here, they are _not _going to be happy._

He waited a good ten minutes more to ensure the humans were a good distance away, then suddenly leapt into motion, landing on his feet from the thirty-metre drop to the forest floor and bursting into a sprint that carried him through the trees at a steady lope that could keep pace with a viperwolf. He didn't know much about the humans, but he knew that the sooner he got this news back to the clan, the better.

**o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o**

Lifted from deep sleep into full wakefulness in the space of a breath, Danny blinked for several moments, momentarily confused, then resisted the urge to sigh when he realised he wasn't where he had expected to be; it had simply been another dream. When he wasn't actually there, his mind was fixed on the landscapes of Pandora, as if despite his body being physically within the RDA compound, his mind permanently strained against its bindings. He hated it; not the sheer joy and exhiliration of running free in the planet's forests, but the link between the two, his real life and that wonderful existence out there that could never be his. There was always the inevitable return to reality.

The same bed, the same room. The same body. Glancing aimlessly around the room - the dull grey ceiling, the scattered belongings he had little use for because he could barely reach them, the photographs his parents had brought back from their exhibitions into Pandora - Danny lifted off the oxygen mask across his mouth and nose for a moment to try and get a breath of fresh air - not that there really was any in this place - before replacing it. There on the bedside table was a small stack of books, most of them bearing titles concerning the Na'vi and the flora and fauna of their world, the others novels that would allow him to, in his mind, escape this miserable existence just for a short while. Danny had been born with an illness that no doctor could cure, a dilapidating disease that left him feeling drained and tired at the best of the times, exhausted and near-paralysed the worst. His parents suspected it was to do with the toxic atmosphere of Earth, where he had been born, in a place once known as England. Now all the continents seemed to have merged together, become one giant mass of pollution. He couldn't be more grateful that his parents, working as scientists for the RDA corporation, had chosen to dare to make the long and hazardous journey to Pandora, and to bring him with them. He himself had been surprised he had made the journey; taking a terminally-ill eighteen-year-old boy who was too frail to get out of bed most of the time on a journey thousands of miles across the universe and getting him there in one piece seemed like a miracle. But it was obviously meant to be, because he was here. He just couldn't help but wonder why.

_Maybe just to lie here and admire some different scenery than the sprawling grey mess I once called my home,_ Danny mused, listlessly lifting a hand to turn the blinds across the small window. Faint streaks of Pandoran sunlight highlighted folds of fabric on his bed and the spine of a book that had been left lying open on its front when he had fallen asleep reading it. Looking out upon the grasslands of this strange planet, leading into lush green forests and those legendary floating mountains, he felt a smile cross his face. Despite everything, he felt deep down that Pandora was worth it. He knew that his parents were some of the bravest people he knew and that they were doing everything they could to help him come to terms with what was happening to him, but the one thing that had never been spoken between them was how long he had left to live. They all knew, but it had never once been put into words. But he was somewhat glad he would be able to live out his final years - months? - here. He loved it. And that was why he couldn't be more grateful to the RDA, despite their work, despite everything they represented that he disapproved of, for creating his avatar.

His avatar. Even the thought of it brought a smile to his face. Upon seeing the human-Na'vi hybrid bodies the corporation had created to allow humans to explore Pandora under the guise of one of its native people, his parents had commissioned the RDA to make one for Danny. It had taken a lot of persuasion, expense and bribery to convince them to do it, but in the end it was more than worth it. In his avatar, Danny could explore Pandora at will. He could walk, run, swim, breathe the fresh clean air, and forget everything he had left behind. It was only for a short while, but it was everything he longed for. It was _freedom_.

Levering himself slowly up onto his elbows, Danny turned and glanced behind him at a small square window placed in the wall of his room within the compound. Next to his own room, his avatar was placed separately to the others since it wasn't being used for specific RDA purposes; he also guessed it was to prevent him being a nuisance to the other avatar users while wandering aimlessly around, getting used to being in a Na'vi body again, content simply to be out of his own body for a while. He didn't mind; in fact, he was glad he could see his avatar, or his 'other self' as he liked to think of it, whenever he wanted, and remind himself that whenever everything became too much, there was always an escape, no matter how ephemeral it may be.

As he peered through the thin layer of glass into the room beyond, Danny momentarily caught sight of his reflection in its surface. An uncontrollable mop of blondish-brown hair that, despite being straight, was bafflingly resistant to any kind of hairbrush or comb, falling into large eyes of a bright, lucid green. A thin face, pale and unwell, nose and mouth partly hidden under an oxygen mask - though obviously the RDA compound was sealed off from Pandora's toxic atmosphere so its inhabitants could breathe safely, it wasn't enough for Danny. It had never been; his body needed more of everything just to keep him alive. He could barely remember a time when he had not been surrounded by wires and machinery. It had almost become part of the scenery, a background. Almost. He could never truly forget it was there.

Closing his eyes for a moment and pausing to rid himself of his wandering thoughts, Danny then glanced up and peered through the glass of the tiny window. Lying on a slab in the centre of the dull grey room beside his own was the motionless form of his avatar. Nine feet tall, with skin of iridescent blue-cyan and an elegant, lithe frame, it looked hardly anything like him, but it was all he wanted to be. _Well_, he amended as he looked back towards its face, _it does look a _bit_ like me. How could it not, when it's got my DNA?_ Sure enough, under a shock of unruly black hair that, despite the difference in colour, looked strikingly like his own, his avatar possessed the same wide eyes - avatars' eyes were traditionally smaller than real Na'vis', but with large eyes being a feature of his own, Danny seemed to have passed on the trait to his avatar - small nose and gentle mouth that seemed to be begging to curl into a smile at any moment, even when his expression was neutral. Its build was slightly less muscular than the average Na'vi, having taken after Danny's slender shape, and due to its human DNA it possessed eyebrows where real Na'vi did not, and ten fingers and toes instead of eight. Having been artificially created, his avatar wore the same type of clothes as the humans, just a plain khaki shirt and black trousers; all in all, it would stand out a mile from any real Na'vi. That was why he had never attempted to approach them, no matter how much the urge to run into the forests of Pandora and never come back nagged at him. He would never be accepted. And of course, he couldn't do it anyway. He would never be free of his real body - the one that was inevitably dying.

"Danny? What are you doing?"

He jumped and glanced towards the doorway to see his mother, Fiona Kingston, leaning against the frame, still wearing her white overalls but with the top part unzipped down to the waist, showing a tight dusky pink t-shirt and the waistband of a pair of jeans. A pair of oversized goggles rested on her head and her light brown hair was escaping its tousled ponytail. Danny's parents were younger than most would be to have a son his age; he had never mentioned it to them, but he was surprised that, having a son with his condition at such a young age, they had managed to cope and hadn't simply given him away to be someone else's problem. He couldn't be more grateful to them for persevering, but sometimes their laid-back façade gave way to expose their genuine concern and fear for their sick son.

"Uh… just looking," he replied lamely, his voice its normal quiet tone due to the effort he had to expend just to make it louder. As his mother raised an eyebrow he reluctantly laid back down and pulled the covers back up. "What? I woke up. It's not a crime."

"Might have to arrest you under the Unlawful Awakening Act," she replied jokingly, heading over to him and planting a gentle kiss on his forehead; Danny screwed up his face in mock disgust. "You should be sleeping. I heard you tossing and turning last night from across the corridor. Were you in pain?" Her eyes met his, already knowing he was going to lie.

"No." He stubbornly refused to meet her gaze. "I wasn't."

She let out a low sigh and stood up straight again, resting her hands on her hips and glancing absently towards the window between Danny's room and his avatar's. "You want to get back out there again, don't you?"

"Can you blame me?" Danny retorted softly, then sighed as well and began playing with a strand of his unruly fringe, looking hard at the material of his pillow as if it was to blame for all his troubles. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be getting cross with you. You're right, I didn't sleep well."

"I guessed already, sweetheart. Do you want more painkillers?"

"No. No, I'm fine. If they pump anything more into me I might be in danger of exploding." Danny managed a smile, but it was humourless. "Can I just get out there again? Into Pandora? Then I can forget it all - hurting, being ill, everything."

His mother observed him for a long moment, her expression veiled with pain as indecision raged behind her calm façade. Danny looked away, unable to bear seeing that look on her face. He knew that he was asking to use his avatar more and more recently, more than he should be, and that she knew that meant he was in pain - and it was becoming unbearable. Eventually, she sighed, and looked down at her shoes.

"I'll see what I can do, sweetheart. But I can't promise anything."

"Thanks." Danny managed a tiny smile, and watched as she turned and left the room, anxiety and fear weighing down her stride.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Kicking up soil from the forest floor with each step as he wandered aimlessly through the trees, Ash'teth barely looked around him, gaze focused on the ground in irritation. This time he didn't particularly care that he didn't know where he was going; he just wanted to get as far away from Hometree as possible, especially since he thought he might hit something - or some_one_ - if he was treated like a simple child one more time. His frantic news that humans had been seen barely five miles from the village had been dismissed with the tone of someone speaking to a five-year-old: "That's nice, already know. Now go off and play." Despite being just four months away from his twenty-first birthday, Ash'teth couldn't shake the feeling that he had always been and would always be treated like an infant.

_It's all Kanali's fault,_ he grumbled silently, absently poking a spiral-shaped _loreyu_ plant nearby and watching as its huge, curled orange leaf vanished into the ground in an instant. _If my stupid, _perfect_ older brother hadn't gone off and left to be some amazingly fantastic warrior somewhere, I wouldn't be the only male left in the family with all the responsibility on my shoulders. They all expect me to become a warrior, to fight for them, and I just don't think I can do it._

As he slowed and came to a stop, shoulders slumping with resignation as he realised he was wrong, he considered that it wasn't all to do with Kanali. Yes, his twenty-five-year-old brother had left the Omaticaya to become a warrior for the fearsome clans of the eastern seas, and their family spoke about him with awe and reverence whenever his name was mentioned, but Ash'teth knew it was simply the difference in their personalities that made him so unwilling to go the same way. His brother was brave and strong; Ash'teth… well, wasn't.

"I'm a bloody stupid wimp," he snapped under his breath, slapping the flat surfaces of several unfortunate nearby leaves and watching as they lit up with bright cyan luminescence. Several fan lizards lifted off from the undergrowth nearby and he jumped and stepped back slightly as they drifted in magenta and yellow circles to land several metres away and vanish again. After a moment, he let a wry smile cross his face, realising he was simply being stupid. Self-pity was going to get him nowhere. He was walking through Pandora's tranquil and beautiful forest, night was falling, and everything was still. He had nothing to complain about and everything to be grateful for.

The telltale glistening of water visible through the trees ahead led him to the edge of a small lake under the sheltered canopy of several _eyaye_ trees, their red stripes pointing down towards the water's surface. Pulling his bow and quiver off his back and laying them on the ground beside him, Ash'teth knelt down on the bank and untied the knot that held the cloth across his right eye taut, letting it fall to the floor. He trailed his hands through the cool water, running them across his face and letting out a soft gasp as its coldness chilled his skin. Shaking the excess off, water droplets falling from his fringe, he leant over the lake's surface and peered into it. A boyish face looked back at him, one eye bright yellow-green and lucid, the other pale and milky with blindness. Vicious scars streaked across the entire right side of his face and the bridge of his nose, the bioluminescent markings destroyed. He was easily spotted in the dark due to the glowing dots that only spread across half his face; on his chest, shoulders and arms there were occasional gaps with no markings there either, due to the ferocious attack that had caused the scars he would have for life. Ash'teth's hair was black like most Na'vis', falling just past his shoulders, the tips flicking outwards in a manner he had never really understood himself, and tinted red with dyes he had created himself. His family disapproved, but he paid no attention; red was his favourite colour, and besides, tinting the tips of his hair such a vibrant shade drew attention away from his scarred face. Two longer locks of hair in front of his ears fell to his chest, each bound twice partway down for practicality; he had chosen to grow his hair like that, but only loosened it at festivities and celebrations when he was required to make himself more presentable. Several small braids mixed in among the rest fell around his face and shoulders, and of course at the back the metre-long queue the Na'vi were known for fell past his waist.

In personality, Ash'teth had always been a little shy; he didn't know why, he just guessed it was a part of who he was. Modesty wasn't the best trait for a Na'vi to possess, however, due to their general lack of clothing. Ash'teth always tried to discreetly layer on more accessories than other Na'vi his age; such as leather bands around the stomach, wrapped material around his forearms and lower legs, and feathered necklaces. He loved feathers, and always had done, ever since he had made a toy ikran as a child and spent days painstakingly stitching them onto its wings. He still couldn't believe no one had noticed that the long reddish-purple feather he wore in the piercing on his left ear had come from the arrows he was meant to be fletching several months ago. It was the same with the feathers that decorated his necklace and queue; he hadn't been able to resist taking them for his own when he had been left alone and instructed to make arrows for the day, but he had been sheepish and guilt-ridden for several days afterwards. It wasn't in his nature to steal, but for once he was glad he had. No one else had quite so many brightly-coloured feathers decorating their jewellery and accessories.

Wiping the remaining droplets of water on his face off with one of the fabric straps around his forearms, Ash'teth tied the tan cloth that covered his right eye back on again and sat back with a soft sigh of contentment. He was meant to be helping a family who slept near his own fix their hammock later - sometimes he resented his own parents for boasting about his ability to put together almost anything; perhaps, he considered wryly, because it was the only talent he had - but until then he had a couple of hours to himself. Getting to his feet, he gathered up his bow and quiver and slung them over his back again, heading further into the trees and humming softly under his breath as he did so. A few minutes later and the sounds of the busy village as they prepared the evening meal had faded, to be replaced by the soft whinnying of direhorses grazing not far off and the rustling of _prolemuris_ swinging through the canopy of trees above. The forest came alive at night, both in activity and appearance. Bioluminescence cast stunning glows of cyan, magenta and green across almost every surface, lending a soft, almost haunting aura to the atmosphere. Ash'teth knew without looking down at himself that he had become a part of it too; the dots that covered the bodies of all Na'vi, each one possessing their own distinctive pattern, lit up at night with the same glow, proclaiming their presence to any other passing members of their clan - but this also had its dangers. They would be spotted easily from a distance by any predators wandering the forest; however, fortunately most of Pandora's fauna also possessed bioluminescent markings so they would be seen just as easily.

Studying every detail of the forest around him - despite his age, he always felt like a child again when awestruck by its beauty - Ash'teth was so deep in thought that he didn't see the small dark shape lying on the ground in front of him until he fell over it. With a startled yelp he pitched forwards and only managed to regain his balance by using a tree to counterbalance his momentum. Cursing, he readjusted his bow and turned to give the offending object - which now, he could see, was a piece of fruit - a venomous glare, then realised what it was and blinked in surprise. Lying on the ground, now looking remarkably innocent, was an _utu mauti_ - a push fruit, an extreme rarity. They grew at incredible heights in the trees and so it took a lot of effort on the clan's part to collect them; finding one in one piece on the ground was considered to be lucky.

_Hm. Maybe it's a good omen,_ Ash'teth considered as he bent down to retreive it. He studied it for a moment, then grimaced. _Then again, as the custom goes, I have to offer it to someone else out of politeness. I know that they, in return, are then meant to politely refuse it, but… with my distinct lack of popularity, what's the betting whoever I have to offer it to will take the thing?_

He paused for a long moment, torn in indecision. Eventually, with a feeling of rebellion in his stomach - accompanied by a distinct rumbling that let him know he was more than a little hungry - Ash'teth moved to take a bite-

Then let out a wordless yell of alarm as a huge reptilian head snaked out of nowhere, grabbed the fruit and swallowed it in one gulp. Almost landing on his backside in shock, Ash'teth attempted to recover himself and looked up, torn between indignation and trepidation at what horrific creature he might see. When he saw what it was, he couldn't help but laugh with relief.

"Txep'renu! What are you doing here?"

The ikran let out a soft growl that sounded somewhat like a purr and nudged his shoulder; obediently, Ash'teth stroked his head, then realised he really shouldn't be rewarding him for stealing his supper and playfully slapped the creature's jaw.

"_Skxawng._ That was my food you just polished off."

Txep'renu gave him a look that he read perfectly as a satisfied _"I know"_ before affectionately ruffling his hair with his breath. Making a face, Ash'teth wrapped his arms around the creature's neck and leapt agilely up on his back, resting his hands on the ikran's shoulders.

"I don't have your harness with me, sorry. You still OK to fly?"

Txep'renu tossed his head; Ash'teth could practically hear him saying _"Duh"_. Smiling, he reached behind him to pick up his queue and placed the tip next to one of the ikran's long antenna; the neural tendrils inside the two quested towards one another for a moment before connecting, wrapping around each other tightly. Ash'teth blinked at the sudden rush of feelings, of energy, that always swept through him whenever he and Txep'renu first linked; it was called _tsahaylu_, literally, 'the bond'. Txep'renu would fly with Ash'teth and only Ash'teth; that was how it would always be. It wasn't like with the direhorses - yes, _tsahaylu_ was completed with them as well, but they would allow anyone to ride them. Txep'renu was here only for Ash'teth, and he couldn't be more grateful to have him. Even when everything else seemed to be falling apart, he only had to join with Txep'renu and fly, and everything would feel right again.

The ikran didn't need any instruction; with a deep breath, a sudden rush of wings, he was into the air, powerful muscles surging as he rose higher and higher into the deepening dusk. Effortlessly holding on to the huge creature's antennae, Ash'teth laughed out loud; the thrill of flight never ceased to amaze him and probably never would. It was worth it; even though sometimes he saw his reflection and hated what looked back at him, he knew easily that it had all been worth it.

He had been seventeen on his first attempt at completing _tsahaylu_ with an ikran. Even three years later, the memory was still vivid; standing on that narrow precipice in the Skycliffs, legs trembling, mouth dry with fear, _meresh'ti cau'pla_ - or banshee catcher - held in one shaking hand. He had known then he wasn't ready, but no one had listened. They had pushed him into it along with the other would-be warriors his age, had sent him miles into the sky on those dangerous and legendary floating mountains to fight and bond with an ikran, to fly. And it had all gone so disastrously wrong.

Seeing the relative success of the few others who had gone before him, Ash'teth had been imbued with a faint hope that maybe he could succeed at this after all. And so, when it was his turn, he had crept into the territory of the ikran, hesitantly walking into their midst, watching as their sharp eyes and massive retilian heads swung towards him to take in this new challenge. Many had lifted off and dived from the edge of the cliffs, and still others had simply fallen asleep where they lay, apparently too unimpressed by this young, scrawny Na'vi to even bother trying to fight him. But one had fixed him in its gaze, refusing to back away, and foolishly he had leapt straight at it, grasping onto the hope that it was the one; realising that he wasn't ready, that he had made this journey for nothing and there was no ikran here for him, would be too humiliating. He had heard the shouts and cheers of his fellow Na'vi behind him, as if standing around of a play-fight, as if his life wasn't in danger. After that, everything was vague. He remembered the massive creature, cyan wings spreading to block out the sun, leaping towards him, jaws agape. He remembered being hurled to the ground, crying out and struggling for breath as its huge weight pressed down on his chest. And then nothing.

He had woken several days later in a hammock back in the branches of Hometree, blinking with confusion as his gaze met that of several concerned clan members who had watched over his recovery. It was than that he had realised he had lost the sight in his right eye, and with it, almost all of his confidence and courage - or rather, the little he had had in the first place. Embarrassed to show his face, with its blank right eye and stark, vicious scars, he had distanced himself from everyone he knew, even his own family. He covered his eye with a strip of cloth and attempted to avert his gaze from everyone he came across, scared of becoming known as the runty, scrawny Na'vi boy who was so useless he couldn't even bond with an ikran, the most recogniseable triumph of a warrior. For a long time he hadn't even approached the clan's direhorses, having gained a fear of animals of any kind. Instead he delved into the abilities he had had since he was a child, the skill of making almost anything he chose to from bark, leaves, leather - anything. It was the only true skill he'd ever possessed, and he treasured it. Bit by bit, he had become closer to the clan again, mingling with them to help others fix broken weapons or string up hammocks, and the incident of his failed bonding had been, if not completely forgotten, sent over time to the back of everyone's minds. For three years he had been determined that he would never go near another ikran again, that he didn't need one to live his life. But he was lonely, no matter how many children whose toys he helped to mend, no matter how many broken fishing spears he fixed for the people of his clan. And when they had eventually persuaded him to try again, he had resigned himself grimly to his fate, already convinced it was all about to go wrong all over again.

He had been wrong. This time, he succeeded. The memories were sharp, and this time he wanted them to be. The startlingly fire-coloured ikran, smaller than the others, lithe and agile, spreading its wings in challenge. Ash'teth darting under its snapping jaw, diving up onto its back to hurl his _meresh'ti cau'pla_ and trap the creature's head in its grip. His queue linking with its antenna, the sudden calming of the ikran's flanks under him. The first flight.

He had named his ikran Txep'renu, which meant 'fire pattern'. People were often commenting that the two of them were made to be bonded; Ash'teth couldn't help but think wryly that they probably meant because both Na'vi and ikran were small, runty and incredibly distinctive to look at, with Txep'renu's striking red and orange markings and Ash'teth's scars, but it was also the way they worked together that made it right. Flying with Txep'renu was effortless, their minds working together as one. Even Ash'teth's distinctly lacking fighting skills had improved since they had bonded, his aiming with a bow much better without the distractions of the closed-in forest around him. He had never told anyone, but deep down he believed they had been made for _tsahaylu _as well; as a child, the toy ikran he had created - as every Na'vi child did - had been red, whereas most others' had been blue or green. Ash'teth was a great believer in fate, and even as the first ikran he had fought had bore down on him with massive jaws snapping, cyan wings blotting out the sun, he had thought deep down, _This is wrong._

But he didn't need to think about any of that now. He had Txep'renu, and everything else he had left behind could be forgotten. Shaking his head, Ash'teth glanced down over the ikran's shoulder to see the dense forests giving way to rocky mountainsides and slopes below. Reluctantly, he patted Txep'renu's neck, wordlessly communicating through their linked queues that it was time to go back, and with obedience but the same unwillingness as his master, the creature banked, wheeled round and turned to go home.

Ash'teth kept his sharp gaze on the forest far below until his sensitive vision caught sight of the faint glistening of the pool he had sat by earlier. Silently understanding, Txep'renu angled his wings and began to descend in a lazy spiral, aiming for a clearer area of ground on the forest floor not far from the small lake, where he would have space to land safely. Ash'teth got to his feet on the ikran's back, balancing almost perfectly, before pulling his queue from Txep'renu's antenna and leaping off just before the creature's talons touched ground, leaping swiftly out of the way for Txep'renu to land in a rush of wings. The ikran gave Ash'teth a look that clearly meant, "_Show-off."_

"I know, I'm wonderful." Ash'teth grinned and patted the creature's head before turning and beginning to head back in the direction of Hometree. "Come on, we'll get you settled in bed and then I'll go and find those people whose hammock I'm meant to be fixing. Hope I'm not late - I lost track of time…"

He rambled in this way as the two of them walked back through the trees, bathed in cyan and magenta bioluminescence. Txep'renu's head was lowered so as not to hit it on any overhanging tree branches and his wings were folded in tightly as they navigated through the forest. Ash'teth always talked continuously about everything and anything when with his ikran, even though he suspected Txep'renu wasn't listening most of the time, or just thought, in his good-natured way, Ash'teth's chatter tiresome and boring. He didn't mind; it was good just to babble about everything that was going on in his mind to someone who wouldn't judge him. Even if he didn't get a response for his one-sided conversations, he enjoyed their walks through the forest. He just wished there was someone else he could spend time with and feel completely comfortable - someone from his own kind.

_It'll happen at some point. You'll find someone,_ Ash'teth told himself reassuringly, as he always did when the worrying thought that he might end up alone forever nagged at him, but as always he couldn't quite make himself believe it.

The two of them weren't far from Hometree when a distinct rustling from the trees to their right made Ash'teth's feline ears lift with concentration and Txep'renu emit a low growl of warning. It was probably another Na'vi returning from errands, or a harmless stingbat, but it didn't hurt to check. Patting Txep'renu's jaw reassuringly to silently communicate that he should stay there, Ash'teth pulled his bow from his back, nocked an arrow and pulled the string taut before heading as silently as possible in the direction the sound had come from, footsteps almost inaudible on the thick underbrush of the forest floor. Warily he looked to and fro as he walked, always aware of his own disadvantages when it came to having no vision on his right side, and was so deep in concentration watching for large predators that he was caught completely unawares when a shape suddenly leapt out the trees with a strangled war cry and swung a spear straight at his face.


	3. Chapter 3

_[AN] I know this story is a little shaky, I got a little excited with infodumping over the first few chapters and also there's a few stupid bits like how precise Danny's life expectancy is, haha. I'm planning on editing later on. ^^ Hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading! 3_

**Chapter 3**

His own startled shriek of alarm merging with that of his attacker, Ash'teth accidentally let go of the string of his bow in a panic and the arrow shot through the canopy of trees and arced away high above them before landing somewhere out of sight with a dull thud. His assailant leapt back in shock at the same time as Ash'teth did, and in the startled pause that followed the two simply stood and looked at each other in surprise.

Ash'teth could barely hold back a sigh of relief when he saw that his attacker wasn't a ferocious predator, but a Na'vi who couldn't be much older than he was - in fact, on close inspection he looked a little younger. His shock of thick black hair was dishevelled and soaked with sweat and he was holding a long, makeshift spear formed of a stripped tree branch with trembling hands, the point still aimed at Ash'teth's face as if he was afraid he still might choose to shoot him. His eyes were wide and his chest heaving with the aftermath of the shock they had both had, and Ash'teth realised that he didn't look fierce or warrior-like in any way. He looked terrified.

"What did you do that for?" he asked in exasperation, finally recovering himself and pushing the end of the spear away with one hand. "Are you crazy?"

"S… sorry." The other boy paused and ran a hand - which Ash'teth noticed was still trembling violently - through his hair, but didn't lower the spear. "I thought you might be… I don't know, a thanator or something." His voice held a distinct accent that Ash'teth couldn't place, but he had definitely never heard Na'vi spoken with such a lilt before.

"Pessimistic much?" he asked with a small smile, trying to make light of the situation, and after a pause the boy managed the ghost of a grin back and finally dropped the spear to the ground. He seemed to wilt slightly as if about to collapse, and worriedly Ash'teth stepped forward to catch him, but he leant against a tree trunk and waved him away.

"I… I'm OK. Really. I'm sorry."

"If you're sure," Ash'teth replied doubtfully, and it was only then that he noticed the boy's clothes. They covered his entire chest, shoulders and legs, nothing like normal attire of the Na'vi. In fact, his strange clothing reminded Ash'teth of something, but he couldn't think what. Shaking his head to rid himself of his wandering thoughts, he asked, "Where are you from? I've never seen you here before."

The other Na'vi blinked at him as if surprised, and Ash'teth found himself studying his face. Somehow, it looked a little less feline than the average Na'vi's, with a slightly stronger bone structure, but still slender, with a small nose and a slightly curled mouth that looked as if it would be begging to break into a smile had he not still looked rather frightened. His eyes were large and gentle beneath his shock of black hair, but there was something strange about them. No, something strange _above_ them - the striped markings above his eyes were different, too dark. A moment later, the word came to him. _Eyebrows. Like a human._ He resisted the urge to shake his head again - his imagination was running away with him again - and told himself to stop jumping to conclusions. It was only then he noticed the boy was speaking.

"No, I'm… not from around here."

"From a different clan?" Ash'teth asked, trying to discreetly probe for information.

That ghost of a smile drifted across his face again. "You could say that. I'm… I'm from a clan that's very different to yours."

"How do you know about my clan?" Ash'teth demanded, unable to keep a tone of suspicion from creeping into his voice as his brow furrowed slightly.

"My clan is very…" He paused for a moment as if searching for the right word before finishing off, "Knowledgable. They tell me about the Omaticaya. Or rather, I… _research_ - no, that's not right - look into it myself. I have a lot of time on my hands, shall we say." He smiled once again, but this time it was even weaker and it didn't reach his eyes.

_Research?_ Ash'teth didn't understand the word, but pressed on anyway, puzzled and curious about this strange Na'vi boy with his un-Na'vi-like accent and clothes and features. "So what's your name?"

He paused for the slightest moment, as if unsure whether he should be revealing that information or not, before replying, "Danny."

"Danny," Ash'teth repeated, getting used to the unfamiliar name. He had never heard that before, either. "I'm Ash'teth." He held out a hand.

Hesitantly, Danny reached out and held it for a moment, and Ash'teth had to prevent himself from recoiling in shock. He had _four_ fingers! Four fingers and one thumb. And sure enough, when he discreetly glanced down, he saw that the case was the same with his toes. Immediately it all clicked into place. This boy must be some sort of abnormality somehow. He had been born with slightly altered features to the rest of their kind. After a pause, he relaxed slightly; he was nothing to fear. He was like this through no fault of his own. Maybe that was the reason for his sad smiles and the melancholy feeling that seemed to permeate him; he might have been shut away, hidden from the rest of his clan because of his appearace. Ash'teth didn't know about other Na'vi clans, but his own brought up their young to appreciate the differences of everyone, and treat them the same no matter how they looked. He was determined to carry on that belief. Giving Danny a significantly friendlier smile than his previous ones, he asked, "So, what are you doing here? You didn't look very comfortable when I found you. In fact, you looked downright petrified."

"I… I was. I'm kind of lost," Danny admitted sheepishly, running a hand through his hair again. "I was trying to get home before it got dark, and… I failed, I guess," he added, glancing up at the rapidly darkening sky. "I'm going to be in so much trouble."

Ash'teth considered for a moment, then replied, "If I could, I'd take you up on Txep'renu to let you see the forest from the sky and get your bearings. But I don't think he'd let anyone else ride him."

"Txep'renu?" Danny repeated, looking blank, and when Ash'teth explained, "My ikran," a different expression crossed Danny's face momentarily - was that awe? "Oh. Oh, I see. Thank you, but that's alright, I'll get back eventually."

"Just might not be alive to see the next morning," Ash'teth replied with a grin, but to his surprise Danny's eyes widened with what looked like shock at his joking comment.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said you're going to be in trouble. If you get back too late you might not be alive by the time they've finished with you," Ash'teth explained, a little perplexed.

"Oh… I see what you mean." Danny's face was still unsmiling, as if he didn't find the joke amusing, and he seemed to be avoiding Ash'teth's gaze. "Yeah. Might not see the next morning."

_Not much of a sense of humour,_ Ash'teth inwardly remarked, then amended himself hurriedly. _Don't judge people so quickly. He's probably perfectly nice. He's just lost, and frightened, and… well, look at me. The first Omaticaya Na'vi he comes across is covered in scars with a band across his eye. I probably looked like some sort of wandering outcast wielding a bow. No wonder he was alarmed when we both came crashing out of the trees at each other._ He assembled his expression back into a warm smile and replied, "Well, then, I hope you can get home. Good luck."

Danny smiled back, then to Ash'teth's surprise bowed slightly and murmured formally, _"Eywa ngahu"_ - _Eywa be with you_ - before turning and heading off into the trees. The shadows of the deep forest enveloped him almost instantly, the last sight Ash'teth saw of him being the faint bioluminescent dots on his arms, the only part of him visible from the back under his strange clothing.

_"Eywa ngahu,"_ he muttered belatedly, pausing for a moment before shaking his head in puzzlement and beginning the walk back through the dense trees towards Txep'renu.

**o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o**

"Danny! Danny, for God's sake!"

With a soft groan Danny stretched his aching neck and reached up to remove the metal band that had been resting across his forehead. He didn't bother to open his eyes; he knew already that he would be meeting his mother's furious gaze. Instead, he wordlessly replaced the headset in its holder by the headboard, having used it so many times he knew exactly where it went without looking. The RDA had been recently developing smaller versions of the machinery they used to connect a human mind to an avatar, and Danny's headset was one of these prototypes. It wasn't simply for experimentation purposes; Danny spent almost all of his time too weak to leave his bed, so it was the only way he could connect to his avatar body.

"Danny, listen to me!"

"I am listening," he replied softly, already hating the feel of the oxygen mask across his nose and mouth, the tubes that attached to his skin, the whirring of the machinery around him that kept him alive. "And I know, and I'm sorry. I got lost." He realised immediately that saying that had been a mistake.

"You got _lost?_ Daniel Kingston, you cannot _afford _to get lost in Pandora! Surely with all those books you've always got your nose buried in, you'd have at least learnt _that?"_

"I know," Danny muttered wearily, at last opening his eyes and looking up into his mother's infuriated face. "I'm sorry. But I got my avatar back safely. You can look next door if you like - it's fine. No harm done. Can I just sleep? I'm exhausted."

Usually any mention of sleep was enough to get his parents scrambling to tuck him into bed and leave him alone, but not this time. "Oh, you're exhausted, are you? And why do you think that is? Perhaps because you have just spent hours on end wandering lost in Pandora, easy prey for anything that might come along, a thanator, I don't know, a leonopteryx perhaps!" Her voice was rising almost hysterically.

"The leonopteryx doesn't go anywhere near the forest," Danny put in mildly, but he knew he would be spoken over before he even began. He was right.

"You could have damaged your avatar, and we'd take the blame from the RDA for that because it's their property, you could have got hurt, or - or worse - and you know what would happen if your avatar was killed! We might never recover you from it! And - and you've kept us up all night worrying, and-"

Danny was beginning to feel suffocated. He didn't know if it was his mother's constant torrent of shouting, or the waves of fear and frustration that rolled palpably off of her, or the tears in her eyes that he couldn't bear to look at because he didn't want to think of what a failure he was. Almost desperately he reached up and pulled off his oxygen mask, taking in several deep breaths of metallic-tasting - but as fresh as he was going to get here - air.

His mother stopped mid-sentence and froze. "Put that back on."

Danny glanced at her and ignored her, still trying to breathe the compound's air. His lungs had already started to burn faintly, crying out for more oxygen to keep his body working, but he ignored them.

"Danny, I said put that back on. You need that."

"If you promise to stop having a go at me." He knew he was being childish, but he didn't care. He was tired and drained and just wanted to sleep. Now it felt like tiny needles were jabbing into the bottom of his lungs, but he forced the pain to the back of his mind with a will of iron.

"Danny-" his mother began, then saw that he meant it. Her voice began to rise again. "For God's sake, put it back on! You'll die without that!"

"P… promise." He couldn't hide the wince on his face.

"Alright, I promise!" Fists clenched with desparation, Fiona didn't sit back down until he had replaced the oxygen mask and taken several deep breaths, his pained expression relaxing. For a moment she seemed to inwardly grapple with herself, then let out a sound that mixed the words "You stupid boy," with a sharp sigh of exasperation and turned to leave the room. She only stopped by the doorway when a small voice called her back.

"Mum."

Her shoulders slumped, then she turned back, her anger and fire gone. "What, Danny?"

"I'm sorry."

In that moment, as he lay pale and thin among rumpled bedcovers, attached to wires and tubes and machinery that made his body do what it couldn't do alone, his expression one of a frightened child wanting to be told that everything is going to be alright, all Fiona could see of her son was a sick young boy who needed protecting. A moment later she had descended on him in a blur of movement and a rustling of clothes and pulled him into a hug, the tightest she could manage without hurting him. She felt Danny curl his fingers in the folds of her t-shirt and bury his face as much as he could into her shoulder with his oxygen mask in the way, and they stayed like that for a long while, wordlessly knowing that both were sorry and they would never let their tempers escape their control again. Not when Danny had such a short time left to live.

When she finally left her son's room, late into the night, Fiona walked silently and wearily back down long grey corridors to the laboratory she and her husband had been working in that day - that was, until they had heard that Danny still hadn't returned from his avatar body, when they had both put work aside to panic. It was now early morning, but she knew Danny's father wouldn't have gone to bed without making sure everything was alright first. Sure enough, he was sitting alone in the large, darkened room, looking very un-scientific in a ratty old t-shirt and jeans, one long leg resting on the seat of the barstool he sat on, the other on the floor. He was nearly asleep at the cable-strewn desk, but as soon as she stepped into the room he blinked and managed to wake himself up in an instant.

"Fi." His pale green eyes widened a little with concern at the sight of her angst-riddled face. He never called her by that affectionate nickname unless something was seriously wrong; she wasn't vulnerable enough to need reassurance the rest of the time. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah," Fiona murmured emotionlessly, glad simply to hear the familiar Irish lilt of her husband's voice. Wordlessly she headed across the room and climbed onto his lap, something she would never be seen doing usually. Understanding, Kieran wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her head, tousled dark blonde hair tickling her forehead.

"Did you have an argument?"

"Did you hear us?" Fiona asked, concerned, but she felt him shake his head.

"No, but I can tell from your demeanor. I know you too well, Fi. You two OK now?"

"I think so. He should be sleeping. He admitted he was exhausted." She was silent for a moment, then she let out a sigh, and heard in it the telltale trembling as she fought not to cry. "Kier, I'm scared. I'm so scared."

"I know," he murmured, kissing the top of her head.

"I still remember the day they put him in my arms," Fiona whispered, blue eyes fixed blankly on a bundle of cables across the room, her mind far away. "My baby. I thought everything was going to be perfect. And then they said to me… They said to me…"

"I know," Kieran said again, voice soft as he pulled his wife closer to him and stroked her hair with long, gentle fingers. "Shhh."

Fiona carried on, voice shaking, mind still lost in the past. "They took us into this other room, didn't they, and they said 'I'm sorry, Mr and Mrs Kingston, but tests have revealed that your son has an illness… You might want to sit down.' And then they said it was terminal, and his muscles would waste away over time, and as he got older he wouldn't be able to breathe on his own, and… and…"

Both of them still remembered the day Danny had worked out the meaning of their furtive glances, their moments of silence, the sobbing that drifted from the living room at night as Fiona cried into her husband's chest, both of them thinking he was tucked up in bed and couldn't hear them. Waiting for the right day to tell him - whenever that was. But before they could, he had worked it out. Neither of them could forget the day their eight-year-old son had walked up to them and asked when he was going to die. His lucid green eyes had taken it all in, giving away no emotion, only understanding, as they haltingly tried to explain to him, every now and then one of them having to take over from the other as they descended into tears, that he had an illness that would never get better. He had asked very few questions, only curiously wondering why the doctors couldn't make him better if they could cure so many other things, and nodding silently when they told him they didn't know. He had left them then, had wandered back upstairs to his bedroom, and hadn't asked anything more for a long time. He was numb, they knew. They understood exactly how he felt.

"He was fourteen years old when he told me what he wanted at his funeral." Kieran's voice was desolate, trembling with held-back tears. He slammed his fist down on the metal table, making Fiona jump, and several small pieces of machinery clattered to the floor. "He's just a child! _It's not fair!"_

"I know. I know, sweetheart," Fiona whispered, and held him as he cried.

**o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o**

Towards the other end of the compound, Danny lay still and silent in his darkened room, eyes fixed blankly on the oddly shaped shadows the drawn blinds cast on the ceiling. The moonlight reflected in his pale green eyes, giving his already white face a haunted look. He couldn't sleep, even though half an hour ago he had been exhausted, feeling as if he could just shut his eyes for a moment and he'd be out like a light. But now the fear had come back, the fear that had permeated his entire life, that was there every single day in the back of his mind. His mother's angst-riddled face, her weary stride, her terrified tears had made it all come back. He was scared. He had tried to push it back for so long, but now it thrummed under his veins like a drumbeat, making his heart thud in his chest at the terror of what was, inevitably, to come.

_I don't want to die._

_You don't have a choice,_ another part of his mind, the rational, merciless side, snarled, and he fought to hold back a sob. _Better make the most of the time you've got left, and let's face it, there's not much of it._

He remembered all too well the words he had read on that little screen, that little computer screen that had otherwise seemed so harmless, when he had researched into his own condition several years ago. He had known then that though his parents were brave and were doing all they could to help him face up to the consequences of his illness, but that the one thing they would never tell him was when he was going to die. He could still remember the words as he tried to take them in, so difficult to make sense of, to comprehend, back then, but now stamped into his mind like a brand.

_'Sufferers with this condition rarely make it to their eighteenth birthdays… Those few that do will, at most, last several months, six at the most, beyond it.'_

Danny was eighteen years and four months old.

Deep down, he knew. He knew his body couldn't last much longer. It was failing beneath him, muscles wasting away, unable to even breathe without machinery forcing it to do so for him. But, at the very least, he told himself, he wasn't going to die on that polluted wasteland he had been born in. He was going to die on Pandora. With the iron will that he had formed to pull himself through all these pain-filled years, Danny closed his eyes, took a deep breath and forced his expression back into one of neutrality.

The odd thing was, despite the whirling maelstrom of thoughts that surged beneath his calm façade as he drifted off into sleep, that all he saw was the face of that mysterious, scarred young Na'vi man before everything descended into dreams.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Eyes closed, Ash'teth allowed himself to drift into the melody of the prayer song as he swayed along with every other member of the Omaticaya, a perfect unison of cyan bodies. They sat in rows radiating out from the Tree of Souls, which stood high above them, casting a pale rose glow on the Na'vis' upturned faces as they sang. Every single queue was connected to the tendrils that rose from the ground beneath them, every single Na'vi connected, for those few short minutes, to Eywa and to their ancestors.

Eventually, the song faded, and Ash'teth opened his eyes to see the other Na'vi stretching as if awakening from a satisfying sleep, and beginning to get to their feet. He stayed where he was for a few moments longer until someone trod on his tail on their way back into the forest, and he glared vehemently at their back before finally disconnecting his queue from the tree's roots and scrambling up. Brushing his fringe out of his face with one hand, he stood and looked at the willow-shaped tree for a long moment, its dark, twisted trunk contrasting with the pale fragility of the pink tendrils that hung from its branches to touch the ground below. Then, pausing only to say the odd greeting or give a smile to the few Na'vi who acknowledged him, he headed towards it, gently parting the curtains of pink strands to step underneath the tree's canopy.

It was like a different world. A soft rosy glow like a new dawn enveloped him, immediately making him feel somehow warmer, and the fading chatter of the last few Na'vi who were leaving the clearing was blocked out by the hanging strands of pink tendrils, submerging him in a sudden, but peaceful, silence. Taking a deep breath as if trying to breathe the feeling in, Ash'teth looked up for a moment at the canopy above him, then bowed to the tree's trunk, silently asking permission to pray. When silence was his only answer, he lifted his queue and laid the tip beside several of the tree's strands, feeling that sudden rush of new emotions and sensations washing over him as they wound together. It was similar to when he connected to Txep'renu, a neural connection, but different too. He wasn't connecting to a living, breathing being here. He was connecting to all the Na'vi who had ever existed, to their goddess, to the world itself.

The faint, unearthly voices of his ancestors dancing in his ears - or were they in his mind? - Ash'teth closed his eyes and tried to shape everything that was whirling about in his head into words, or feelings at least. He just hoped Eywa would understand him - if she was listening.

_I don't even know what I'm trying to say here. And maybe I'm being selfish. I don't know. All I know is that… Well, I feel like I'm kind of… stuck in a rut here. Maybe that's selfish too. I should be grateful for what I've got. But even with my parents, even with Txep'renu, I feel lonely, deep down. I don't know why. But everyone else seems to have found someone… _special_, to share their life with. I'm old enough, aren't I? I sound so selfish here… I'm sorry, I'm rambling. I just want to know that I'm not alone. I want someone to talk to, to laugh with, to cry with. I've never found it easy to make friends and since my first attempt to tame an ikran it's been even harder. My physical appearance isn't the problem, though that's what started all this. It's _me_. It's made me who I am. I just feel so lonely, and I don't know why._

He paused, then sighed. He just sounded like a selfish brat here. If he was giving a representation of what the Na'vi were like as a whole to Eywa, he was pretty sure it wasn't coming across as a very good one. He was silent for a few moments, then he hesitantly continued.

_There's something else. I… I always feel like I'm a spare part to my clan, just someone who hangs around and occasionally fixes things, but otherwise doesn't do anything of importance. I told them about the humans being close to Hometree and all they did was ignore me. I want to help. I want to be part of them. I know I separated myself from them three years ago because of what the ikran did to me, but I was ashamed then, and I was stupid. I've worked myself back into the clan more since then, but… I don't feel like I'm completely there. It's like I'm not connected to anybody. The only one I feel close to is Txep'renu, and he's an ikran, not a Na'vi._ He realised his words had come full circle, back to the first issue he had mentioned, and he shook his head abruptly, gently tugging his queue from the tree's strands. The voices of his ancestors quietened instantly and silence enfolded him again. For a moment he stood there, breathing slightly heavier than normal, somehow feeling tired out deep inside as if he had just sprinted a mile. But it felt good to have got all his feelings off his chest, as if a burden had been lifted a little. If nothing else, he had released the mounting pressure of his feelings a little. Bowing once again to the Tree of Souls, he turned and began to walk away.

**o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o**

"And you see, this cable here clips into this part, thus completing the circuit."

"Mm-hmm."

"And ta-dah! We have lift-off."

Fiona stepped back to admire her handiwork as the hologram, displaying a map of the RDA compound, flickered into life, suspended over the table as the small piece of machinery she had been fixing began to whir softly. She glanced over at Danny, who had his face buried in a book and wasn't paying her the slightest bit of attention.

"Danny. Look."

"I know."

"No, I mean look. I fixed that buggy holographic projector they were having troubles with. Who knows, I might get a pay rise!"

"Mm-hmm. Good."

"Danny, a thanator just strolled into the room and ate your father."

"Mm. That's great."

_"Daniel!"_ Fiona reached over and plucked _Flora and Fauna of Pandora_ out of his hands, and blinking in surprise, he looked up at for the first time. "What did I just say?"

"I don't know, something about cables and scientific stuff. Can I have my book back?"

With a sigh of exasperation Fiona tossed the dog-eared book back at him and clicked off the machine sitting on the table, causing the hologram to fade out of existence again. The two of them were in the laboratory she and Kieran spent most hours working in, Fiona having persuaded the other lab technicians to let Danny stay in there on the pretense of letting him observe her work. So far, all he seemed to have been observing was his book, but she didn't care a bit, despite her badgering. Danny had awoken that morning looking a lot brighter than he had over the last few weeks - bright enough, in fact, that he had been allowed to leave his bed, something he had been too weak to do for a long time. He was now sitting at one of the desks in the laboratory - even seeing her son sitting up seemed like a miracle to Fiona - but even then he still had the ever-present oxygen mask, wires and several pieces of machinery attached to his wheelchair. Fiona paid them no attention; all she needed to see was Danny being with his parents where he belonged, not bedridden in a darkened room. She had barely managed to contain her relief when the doctors had told her he was strong enough to stay in the laboratory with them today, and she could see that he was visibly happier too, even if he was putting on a pretense of being completely bored. _Well,_ she amended herself quickly, _science has never been among Danny's hobbies. He'd rather get out there and see and feel the world rather than look at it under a microscope._ It was just cruelly ironic that, with his illness, that was everything he couldn't do.

Oblivious to his mother's drifting thought process, Danny turned another page of his book before remarking, "Where's Dad?"

"I'd say, by about now, the thanator's digestive tract," Fiona replied, checking her watch with an expression of complete seriousness.

_"What?"_

Unable to stop herself, Fiona let out a loud cackle and playfully ruffled his hair. "If you'd listened to me in the first place, darling, you'd know that. Well, I don't know if you'd believe it. I'm not sure what Kieran's reaction would be if faced with a thanator."

_"'He's an ugly looking bastard, to be sure,'"_ Danny replied in a perfect imitation of his father's Irish accent, and Fiona cackled again. It was only when a hand rapped him gently on the head that Danny realised his dad was standing right behind him.

"I do _not_ talk like that," he told him with exaggerated dignity, ignoring Danny's grin and Fiona's teasing remark of "Of course you don't, my little Irish pixie," as she stood up on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek.

"Where were you, anyway?" Danny demanded after a moment, putting his book down willingly for what was probably the first time that day.

"I went out to get a spare motherboard for this," Kieran replied, patting some obscure piece of equipment on one of the desks; Danny had no idea what it was intended for. "You'd know if you'd been paying attention, blockhead."

"Oh, go and play with your motherboard," Danny retorted with mock disgust, picking up his book again and pretending to ignore him as Kieran laughed.

Fiona discreetly watched the two of them from where she worked for the next couple of hours, glad simply to be able to see father and son talking and laughing as they always should have been able to. But Danny had always been so _fragile_. They had never really had a chance to do anything normal as a family. And now… now it was nearly too late. Nearly.

_He looks stronger,_ she told the doubting half of her mind hopefully. _Perhaps he can fight this after all. Doctors can always make mistakes._

A cackle of amusement burst into her thought process and she glanced up to see that Kieran was wearing his welding goggles while Danny collapsed in hysteria on the desk. After a moment his father took them off and rested them on his forehead to save his son from death by hyperventilation, asking in what was intended to be a serious tone, "What's the problem?"

"You look like a mad scientist!"

"What are you talking about? I _am_ a mad scientist. I am going to take over ze vorld!"

"And when you're done turning German, run these up to the head office," Fiona told him, rolling her eyes as she pressed a pile of holographic plates into his hands.

"Why can't you do it?"

"You've got longer legs." She gave him her sweetest smile and after a pause he gave in, sighed dramatically and headed towards the door. It was only when he was halfway there that he realised he still had a pair of giant goggles on his head, hurried back, took them off, mussed up his messy blonde hair as if that would remove all evidence that they had been there, and disappeared out the door. Fiona rolled her eyes again at her husband's departing back.

"Mum."

Recognising the distinctive tone in her son's voice that meant he was just about to ask something that would most likely yield a categorical 'no' in response, Fiona held back a sigh. "What, darling?"

Danny laid his book down on the table and put on his most innocent smile, the kind that had always melted his parents' hearts when he was child. He hadn't tested it out for quite a while. "If I'm really, _really_ good, can I use my avatar later?"

She had been expecting that question, and her reply was already planned. "But you're better today, Danny. Why waste that by going out into Pandora? Don't you want to stay here and make the most of…" She trailed off.

"Make the most of not being bedridden and half-dead, you mean," Danny finished off, a subtle hint of venom in his voice. Almost immediately, however, seeing his mother's look of dismay, he absently started flicking through the pages of the book in front of him with his fingers, lowering his gaze. "I'm sorry."

"It's OK, sweetheart." She ruffled his hair and gave him a tiny, sad smile. "But I just don't want to waste this day with you. You know that me and your dad love having you around, right? We don't want to waste a single minute we could have with you."

_Because I don't have that long left,_ Danny silently finished off, but didn't say it. Instead, he smiled back, but his expression bore the same weariness as his mother's; the feeling of inevitability. "OK. I understand."

"I'm glad." Fiona leant down and kissed him on the cheek, then straightened up and leant back on the desk, absently staring at one of her feet. "Listen… don't tell your dad this, but he's putting on way more of a brave face than I am. The other night, after you and I argued… when I got back to the lab, he broke down. He'd never let you see him like that and he'd kill me if I told you. But I just wanted you to know that he's taking things a lot more badly than he lets on, and seeing you two together… It makes me so happy. I don't want to ruin that."

Danny didn't reply for a long moment, still staring blankly at the pages of his book as he flipped them with his fingers. He knew his parents were desperate to protect their dying son, as any would be if they had had a child with his condition, but somehow being told of how badly they were taking it made everything seem a hundred times worse. He had known that they must be faring worse behind closed doors than they did in front of him, but just how much, he hadn't realised. He couldn't even imagine his father, his witty, placid, unflappable dad, breaking down. But immediately, he knew he couldn't do that to them any more, whether they let him see their emotions or not.

"I'm sorry, Mum… I had no idea. I'll… I'll spend more time with you. I'll make the most of it." He managed a proper smile this time, and with a relieved look on her face his mother grinned back.

There was a moment's pause, then the lab doors clattered open again to admit an exhausted-looking Kieran, who proceeded to stagger forward, drape himself over one of the desks and moan, "I'm too old for all this running around."

"You're thirty-six, not ninety," Fiona told him unsympathetically, rapping him gently over the head with the nearest piece of unbreakable scientific equipment. "And nobody told you to run, moron."

"Yeah, well, I reserve the right to feel like an old fart every now and again," Kieran retorted before slumping over the desk again. Over his head, Fiona met her son's eyes, her amused expression fading to be replaced with one of concern; Kieran may be joking now, but deep down they both knew that the stress of Danny's illness was taking its toll on the two of them.

Unable to hold his mother's pain-filled gaze, Danny glanced back down at the table's surface, immediately torn. He wanted to try his best to spend the little time he had left with the people he loved the most. Yet Pandora called to him, and now he had spoken to one of the Na'vi, something he had never before dared to do, he ached with longing to return there. Something had to give; but he knew that it wouldn't. Pushing back a sigh, he picked up his book again as his parents resumed their work, but the words blurred into black squiggles in front of his eyes and he couldn't concentrate. Frustrated, he gave up and put it back down, hoping his parents wouldn't notice the expression of aggravation and helplessness on his face.

_You would think that it - whatever divine being may be 'up there' - would at least let me have some peace and quiet in the last few months of my life. But no. No, when I have eight weeks at the most left to live, everything has to get a hundred times more complicated._


	5. Chapter 5

_[AN] Sorry for the delay in submitting these chapters, most of my attention has been on a couple of my other stories and PD is sort of on hiatus so I'm submitting the chapters that I do have slowly. X3 And yes, I am aware Carla is a walking cliché, I was just having fun with that. XP Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading! 3_

**Chapter 5**

The dark cloak of night was pulling back to reveal a pale lilac dawn as Danny hesitantly walked through the undergrowth of Pandora's forest, a small knife held carefully in one hand. After the scare he had had coming across Ash'teth - with both of them nearly killing one another in the process, he inwardly added with a degree of sheepishness - he had realised how real the threat of actually coming across a thanator or a pack of viperwolves instead of just a Na'vi was, and didn't plan on heading into the forest's hazardous terrain without at least one weapon on his person again. He had woken early that morning, having set his alarm clock to make sure he didn't oversleep, to head into Pandora before his parents awoke. Their bedroom was directly opposite his own, and he knew that on their way towards the labs they would always check on him; he wanted to be back out of his avatar and in his own body by then. That way, he hoped, it would work out as a fair compromise. In the morning, he could explore Pandora for a little while at will, and then for the rest of the day his parents could keep an eye on him and have his company. He just hadn't got round to telling them about his idea yet.

_All I have to do is make sure I'm back within a couple of hours,_ he told himself silently, gaze swinging left and right as he continued through the densely-packed trees. _Gives me plenty of time to do a little exploring._

He realised he was within the territory of the Omaticaya as brightly coloured _eyaye_ leaves began to appear at intervals on tree trunks, and the foliage started to thin out a little. After a while he heard faint voices, and wary of being seen, he glanced around to see a group of young Na'vi children playing in a clearing not far away, watched over a sleepy-looking adult. One of them lifted her head, quieting for a moment as she spotted him with wide eyes, but by the time she had tugged on the arm of one of her companions and pointed Danny's way he had slipped quickly back into the shadows of the undergrowth.

Not entirely sure where he was going or why - it had always been this way, but simply being here, away from his own life, was enough for Danny - he continued to walk for a while, contentedly admiring the world around him as the forest slowly began to awaken. At one point he heard the distinctive low warning growl of a predator nearby, and instinctively he looked around for an escape route before spotting a branch above him. As a human - even an able-bodied one - he would never have even considered trying to reach it, but with barely a thought he tucked his knife in his belt, grabbed the branch with both hands and swung up onto it, landing neatly on both bare feet, balanced by his prehensile tail. The sheer ease of it startled a laugh out of him, but it was quickly quietened as the creature he had heard - a female viperwolf leading her three small cubs through the undergrowth - loped silently past, pausing only to give him a wary glance as she did so. Once they were gone, Danny, still marvelling at the sight, jumped neatly back down from the tree and retrieved his knife. He didn't know how a real Na'vi would react to the appearance of a predator, but getting out of the way was satisfactory to him - especially since he had discovered from it abilities that he hadn't even known this body possessed.

It wasn't long before Danny's stride had become more easy, his posture more relaxed as he continued on through the forest, aware now that he could slip out of harm's way if any of Pandora's smaller predators decided to make an appearance. What he had neglected to prepare for, however, was for another Na'vi to leap out of the canopy high above in a sudden rush of rustling branches and falling leaves and land so closely in front of him they almost trod on his feet. With a wild cry Danny tripped backwards, clumsily brandishing his knife, then realised that he recognised the face he was about to stab and, with a gasp of shock, dropped the weapon.

"You did it to me _again!"_

"Hey, you were the one who leapt out at me last time!" Ash'teth replied with a surprisingly cheery grin for someone who has just very nearly had their one working eye poked out with a knife. "I thought I'd return the favour."

_"Skxawng,"_ Danny retorted jokingly, picking up his knife and slidng it into his belt. "What are you doing here at this hour anyway?"

Ash'teth glanced around them, absently playing with the feathers on one of his many necklaces between his long fingers. "I often get up at this time. It gives me some peace and quiet before everyone starts bossing me around." He grinned. "I get roped into fixing things a lot, since it's my only talent."

"No, I'd disagree - you definitely have a talent for crawling around in treetops and scaring the crap out of any innocent passers-by," Danny replied with a smirk.

Ash'teth simply looked blank. "What is 'crap'?"

"It's - oh, God, never mind."

The Na'vi paused, then shook his head, his lips curling into a smile of resigned amusement, presumably at Danny's bizarre dialect. "Listen, do you want go for a walk somewhere? I can show you more of the area. Since you said you're not from around here."

Danny paused to glance up at the sky, noticing with a faint concern that it was lightening, the faint calls of _prolemuris_ and wild birds heralding a new day. "I suppose so… but I can't be too long."

"That's alright," Ash'teth replied with a smile, turning and beginning to walk in the opposite direction, and as he followed Danny found himself grateful for the Na'vi's surprisingly accepting attitude and his lack of prying. He had been told that though the Na'vi were a docile and loyal race, when it came to protecting their own kind they could easily become suspicious and mistrusting to outsiders. Ash'teth didn't seem as bothered that Danny was so secretive about where he came from as he would have expected; perhaps he was simply just open-minded, or maybe he didn't have anyone _to_ protect. Just himself.

As they walked in a content silence, Danny found himself studying the slightly older man out of the corner of his eye. He hadn't really paid attention to how he looked the first time they had met, due to them both nearly scaring the life out of each other; all he had noticed was the strip of cloth that covered his right eye, and his genuine, almost sheepish grin. Now he could see that stretching out from beneath the cloth were a series of stark, vicious-looking scars, fainter than the cyan skin around them. Danny found himself wincing in sympathy, wondering what on earth had happened to him, and hurriedly tried to assemble his expression back into one of neutrality in case Ash'teth noticed. Though he was several inches taller than Danny - or rather, Danny's avatar - and a little more muscled to Danny's scrawny build, he still looked a little thinner and shorter than the average Na'vi, and his face was more boyish. Danny noticed with surprise that the tips of Ash'teth's shoulder-length hair were dyed a startling shade of red, and almost smiled in amusement; that was certainly unconventional for a Na'vi, judging by what he had read. His hairstyle generally looked very impractical, with two much longer strands in front of his ears tied separately to the rest, several small braids, the main section of his hair left loose and shoulder-length and then the queue as well, but it suited him.

Ash'teth suddenly stopped and turned his head towards him, making him jump. There was a smile flickering around his mouth as he asked, "Were you staring at me?"

"Uh…" Danny replied lamely, belatedly wondering how Ash'teth had known, seeing as Danny was walking on the Na'vi's blind side. "Sorry."

Ash'teth grinned, but not before Danny noticed the faintest of blushes tinting his blue cheeks, giving him the look of having just had purple paint splashed on his face. "Trust me, if you want to stare at something, I'm sure we can find something more pretty than me." His grin faltered for a moment, and Danny was sure he saw a flicker of regret in his one visible eye. Immediately he realised that Ash'teth was thinking about his disfiguring scars.

"No, I don't mind looking at you," he blurted out, then realised he had just said the most ridiculous thing and immediately hid his face in his hands and groaned. "I mean… you're not _bad_-looking… Oh my God, I sound like an idiot. I'm trying to be nice. Whenever I try to be nice it comes out sounding rude. Ignore me."

There was a soft laugh, not one of embarrassment but a genuine one, and Ash'teth slung an arm around his shoulders. "And there I was thinking _I_ was the one who had trouble with articulation."

"Sorry," Danny mumbled again, scrubbing his face with his hands as if trying to rub off his blush. Finally he resurfaced from his hands, mostly recovered. "I was just wondering why you dye your hair like that. I've never seen another Na'vi with dyed hair."

Ash'teth was silent for a moment, looking ponderous as he played with one of the dyed strands. "Red is my favourite colour. And it… it distracts from the scars."

Danny didn't know what to reply to that; he certainly didn't want to pry, especially not when Ash'teth had been being so accepting towards Danny's own lack of information. Eventually he replied with a smile, "It suits you."

"Oh… thanks." Ash'teth grinned back. "My parents disapprove. But my brother helped me do it the first time so he got into trouble too." He paused, then added softly, "You're the first person who hasn't asked me straight away how I got these scars."

"Well… I didn't want to pry. I know that if something really bad's happened to you, you don't want to go around talking to people about it. That's the last thing you want to do. You want to do all you can to forget it."

Ash'teth was silent for a moment, tilting his head on one side and looking thoughtful. Then he gave Danny a tiny, sad smile and murmured, "Sounds like you've had trouble as well."

Danny shrugged, avoiding the Na'vi's gaze. "Yeah… I guess so. That's why I come here. To forget it."

"Well, then," Ash'teth remarked cheerfully, and Danny looked up at him in surprise. "Let's go for a walk and forget about everything. And you can come back here whenever you want. You know that, right?"

Danny was startled for a moment, but then he managed a smile. "You mean… we're friends?"

"Sure." Ash'teth grinned, then added somewhat dramatically, "Whatever problems we may face, we shall defeat them!" He mocked a karate-style kick at the nearest tree trunk, almost trippinng over his own feet as he did so, and Danny couldn't help but laugh - but almost immediately, his expression faded to be replaced with a look of hopelessness that he had felt on his face more and more recently.

_If only it were that simple._

**o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o**

"As you may have heard, we've called a staff meeting today to discuss issues that some of us have mentioned as a concern. We don't think our employees would be stupid enough to disobey orders, but just in case they happened to be, we thought we better offer them a warning before they get sacked."

Fiona resisted a ferocious urge to roll her eyes at her boss's words. They were standing in rows - _like schoolchildren in the playground,_ she added inwardly - she, Kieran and the other RDA employees of their sector, in the large, empty metallic office of the staff in charge of their area of work. The walls were flanked with huge screens displaying CCTV footage of the various labs of the compound as well as certain areas of grassland and forest that ringed the vicinity, and an oversized grey desk sat at the front of the room with several holographic projectors whirring on its surface. Their boss, a woman even younger than Fiona and Kieran themselves, voice as cold as her ice-blonde hair, sat on the desk, carefully positioned to show off her long, slender legs and skyscraper heels as she spoke.

_She certainly knows how to use her femininity to get her way,_ Fiona thought with dislike, feeling the same irritation she had felt the moment she had met the woman rising up in her chest once again. She knew, however, that though Carla Rasseter may be able to persuade any other man to do her bidding with her feminine wiles, Kieran was resistant to her charms. Even when Carla had blatantly wrapped her arm around his shoulders, perfectly painted claw-like nails digging possessively into his shoulder and her lips beside his ear as Fiona looked on in fury, he had barely glanced at her as he responded to her questions about his work. Eventually Carla gave up with each useless attempt to seduce him, but always came back to give it another try - and always when Fiona was present. Fiona had once asked Kieran if he had ever spoken with Carla when she wasn't there, but immediately she had regretted it; she knew deep down that he would never betray her. His look of incredulity and sheer horror at the very suggestion of cheating on his wife had been enough to convince her of that, even if she hadn't believed it already. And so, Carla had simply returned - for now - to making any other male RDA employees she came across her next conquests. But, clearly frustrated, she held a particular dislike to Fiona and Kieran, and the feeling was mutual.

Glancing discreetly to the side, Fiona noticed that, to anyone who didn't know him, Kieran would have looked perfectly relaxed, hands in the pockets of his jeans, expression one of calm neutrality, but she could see by the hard glint in his green eyes that he wasn't enjoying being here any more than she was. Knowing Carla would probably notice but not caring, Fiona reached out to silently wrap one of her fingers around Kieran's own, and surprised, he looked back at her and managed a quick smile. They both knew without speaking exactly what train of thought they shared.

_We might have to put up with this bitch, but for Pandora, for the chance to leave our polluted world behind and do what we've strived to do all our lives up until now, it's worth it. And, of course, for Danny. He would never have got the freedom he has now if we hadn't made the journey here. So putting up with some blonde tart's sarcastic comments and attempts to seduce anything in trousers, we can do._

"And finally, I know this is an obvious point, but you can never be too sure of your employees' intelligence levels…" Carla's mouth stretched into a lazy, amused smile, showing rows of perfectly-aligned teeth, and a hesitant, unwilling laugh drifted from the crowd of workers, "I just thought I better add that any employee - or relative of an employee - who is part of the avatar program and decides it would be smart to get to know some of the blue monkeys - _don't_. You will be sacked on the spot, have you avatar destroyed and will be shipped back to Earth pronto."

"What's the problem with speaking to them?" one employee asked, then hurriedly looked at the floor as Carla's gaze swung towards him. "Not… not that I ever would, boss, but I thought we were meant to be gaining their trust. Wouldn't that help, if we learnt a little more about Pandora from them?"

"Change of plan," Carla replied with no emotion on her face. "We don't befriend the indigenous. We don't even speak to them - not that they can understand us anyway." She smirked briefly. "We plan, and then we destroy them, and then we destroy their home, and then we pound this planet into rubble to find that stash of unobtanium. Not that I'll be doing any of that personally, of course," she added, studying her manicured nails for a moment. "We have AMP suits, Scorpions and Dragon gunships for that. But I will be watching every moment." She smiled, and Fiona was convinced the woman wanted nothing more than to lick her lips in a feral satisfaction.

There was silence for a moment from the watching employees. No one dared to disagree, though Fiona could feel her clenched fists shaking in her pockets and knew instinctively that Kieran was feeling exactly the same way. She and her husband weren't quite as obsessively intrigued by the Na'vi as Danny was, but they had grown to care about them in their time peacefully studying their habitat and watching them from a distance. They were a docile, self-sufficient race, not mindlessly destroying - their way of life had a balance that humans could never understand. They didn't deserve this hatred. They didn't deserve to be destroyed. But there was absolutely nothing than Fiona and Kieran could do.

"Well, that settles everything, I think," Carla surmised, surprising the two of them, who had both drifted off into their own trains of thought. She slid neatly from the desk, weaving her way effortlessly through the crowd as the other employees broke up and began to walk away, talking amongst themselves. As she passed Fiona and Kieran she none-too-discreetly brushed a hand around Kieran's waist and murmured in a voice that was practically a purr, "Feel free to visit my office if you ever want any more _information_."

"Ugly bitch," Kieran muttered so soon after Carla had disappeared into the diminishing crowd that Fiona was slightly concerned she would hear him, rubbing his side as if the woman had stung him.

Fiona blinked up at him. "You think she's ugly?" _Hate to admit it, but she's far from it._

He paused, then smiled wryly. "Well, she's alright, but she's not as beautiful as you." He leant down to kiss her and with a grin she gently smacked him in the chest.

"Come on, you big lanky softie, back to work."

It was only when the two of them were halfway back to the laboratory they worked in on the other side of the compound that Carla's words suddenly wormed their way back into Fiona's mind. Alarmed, she came to a stop, and Kieran carried on walking for several paces before realising his wife wasn't with him and looking round with a bemused expression.

"Why'd you stop?"

"I just remembered what Carla said," Fiona replied, a slight frown crossing her features as she hurried to catch up with his longer strides. "Anyone on the avatar program - including relatives of employees - will be shipped back to Earth if they're found to be befriending the Na'vi."

Kieran simply looked confused, and she resisted the urge to slap some sense into her husband. A scientific genius he may be according to the degrees on his CV, but sometimes when it came to everyday things he could be a complete moron. "And?"

"_Danny's_ on the avatar program, you big lummox. What if he's come into contact with the Na'vi?"

"He won't," Kieran replied with surprising self-assurance. "He's not that stupid. He just likes to explore Pandora - he wouldn't go too close to the clans."

"If you're sure," Fiona replied doubtfully as the doorway to their lab came into view around the next corner. "But if we get concerned, we'll let him know, OK?"

"Yeah, sure." There was a pause, then he asked, "By the way, what _is_ a lummox?"

"Oh, Kieran, for God's sake!"


End file.
